It feels a bit 'wandery' up front on certain roads and I get the occasional clonky noise particularly in the wet.

Two things though; first I think the Mobile Tyre operative set the tracking a little too dead-centre as although it doesn't pull left/right anymore it has a strange 'dead' feel which has never happened before (both front wheels are supposed to point slightly towards each other. Or something) I think mine are both allowed to follow cambers and white lines too easily.

Second is that the new Ford Fishbones fitted 3 years ago might be starting to go off and although not enough to bother an advisory these cars are *extremely* sensitive hence I feared the worst.

Just treated myself to some Volvo Wiper Blades £39.00* before my old wipers scratch my nice new screen

*they're £29.00 but had to pay £10.00 carriage because the boxes are about 750mm long (and I can't be arsed driving round for wipers, and the Volvo ones are good, and fit proper).

If you took it round to Tanvic for a 4-wheel alignment check, do they charge you anyway or only if they adjust it?
(Last time I had mine done in Harket Marboro, I think it was £30, but only needed tweaking at the front).

The used to offer an alignment 'check' for free but I wouldn't imagine many cars come up 'clean' as it were (a bit like Kwik Fit offering to check the thickness of your Brake Discs ). They wanted £65.00? this time for a 4-wheel job and because I'd asked for the Winter boots to be fitted the total was going to be £116.00. I seem to like the 4-wheel service as mine does adjust.

They do a great job with the Hunter machine but I couldn't justify the cost knowing also the MOT was imminent and new Wishbones may be needed (and further alignment), consequently I went with the Mobile place which was more convenient for me at the time but many Capers followed

I don't find the Volvo's wipers brilliant, I mean they're fine but nothing special. Not sure if the screen needs a proper clean with some proper screen cleaning stuff or something, or if they just aren't awesome wipers....

The Focus is still on its original wiper blades (it'll be 8 in April) and they're still good! That's good going!

Fitted than yesterday and they seem vastly improved actually, different in a few areas. They are supremely smooth and quiet and leave no water on the screen. The last Volvo set 'went off' after about 3 years and sounded dry on the glass (hard rubber) and always left water residue and smears.